


Do It For Your Mother

by SoriSeeraKyra



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Alzheimer's Disease, Dead Parent, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Family, Family Fluff, Gen, Multi, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-02
Updated: 2017-12-02
Packaged: 2019-02-09 12:25:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12887832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SoriSeeraKyra/pseuds/SoriSeeraKyra
Summary: The Alzheimer's walk is coming up and it would be lovely if your family participated in it with you.





	Do It For Your Mother

**Author's Note:**

> Request from Tumblr

The apathetic groan the rolls over the living room makes your eyes squint angrily. The teen angst you were expecting, but the disinterested gaze from your husband really irks you. Were you asking too much? You didn’t think so. If this was something that they wanted to do you’d do it, no hesitation.

 

“Mom, it’s purple,” Tim says with a raised eyebrow holding up the shirt that you’d thrown at each of them.

 

“And?” You ask with a raised eyebrow.

 

“None of us wear purple,” he says if it were obvious.

 

“I didn’t know that purple was off limits, I’m so sorry to have insulted your fashion sense,” you say with pursed lips.

 

“It’s not a color we particularly fond of mom,” Dick chimes in. “And besides this weekend is kind of busy. We all have things to do.”

 

“What things?” You ask asked arms crossing over your chest. “None of you ever have anything to do on the weekends you all just lay around the house.”

 

“Kori and I have plans,” Dick says rather quickly. “Big Plans. At our apartment. That’s not here. Not anywhere close to Gotham at all, so I won’t be able to even contemplate attending.”

 

“I also don’t live here and have plans,” Jason says nodding his head along with Dick’s excuse.

 

“I have a test,” Damian says simply, not meeting your eyes.

 

“I also have a test, and a weekend field trip planned… for extra credit.” Tim says in a rather unconvincing tone.

 

Your eyes drift over to your husband, who is visibly wracking his brain, looking for an excuse to deny your request. But he doesn’t have to, you’ve never been a pushy person. If they didn’t want to do this walk with you, you wouldn’t force them, even if it hurt your feelings.

 

“All right,” you say with a sigh, letting your arms fall limply to the sides in disappointment. A weak smile crosses your face, “There is always next time.”

 

A chorus of “Yeahs!” echo around the room, and before you can blink the room is vacated.

 

You’re left in the room alone, save for your husband who came to stand in front of you.  Warm large hands come to rest affectionately on your shoulders, and began to squeeze rather gently.

 

“Maybe next time, sweetheart,” He says pressing a small kiss to your forehead.

 

You don’t respond and instead dejectedly nod your head.

 

***

There was something wrong. More than wrong, it seemed that catastrophe had happened. They all noticed it, how quiet the house had seemed. It was a Saturday morning and everything was quiet.  There was no smell of muffins. No soft chattering in the kitchen, and no one kissed their cheeks and whispered, “good morning,” while giving them tight hugs.

 

They find themselves congregating in the living room, all slightly confused. They all look at each other rather confused. It’s Damian was the first to say something, “Where is mother?”

 

Eyes fall on Bruce first, who unfortunately could not answer the question.

 

“Really?” Jason says incredulously. “Batman doesn’t know where his wife is?”

 

“Do you want me to stalk her?” Bruce asks with a raised eyebrow.

 

“I think we are just a little surprised that you don’t have a tracker on her,” Dick says interjecting with a calm voice to keep the conversation from getting out of hand.

 

Bruce doesn’t respond at first, averting his eyes from the group, eventually he says, “I did.”

 

“What?”

 

“She did have one, she was just upset when she found it. We agreed to not have one.”

 

“What perceptive thinking, now she could be gone. Taken by some villain for nefarious purposes,” Damian says slightly outraged.

 

“It’s only been a couple of hours,” Dick says with a shrug. “We don’t know that this means anything is wrong.”

 

There is a quiet that fell over the room all thinking solemnly, “But there could be.”

 

Alfred’s familiar footsteps work their way into the living room. The slight roll of his eyes and shake of his head goes unnoticed by all of the younger males, except one.

 

Tim pulls his phone from his pocket, thinking he may have a clue as to where their “missing” mother might be. The walk she had been talking about was for Alzheimer’s, if he remembered correctly. As he typed the information in, it wasn’t hard to find what he was looking for, there was even new coverage of the event.

 

The first video that appears makes his eyes go wide, he hits play and lets the sound fill the room.

 

_“It’s a beautiful day here in Gotham, Mark, and the walk to end Alzheimer’s is already underway. It busy today and so many more people have turned out than originally anticipated. Even a local celebrity has appeared.”_

 

The sound causes the others to stop bickering. They turned to look at him bewilderedly as the clip continues.

 

_“Oh, really? Who’s out there Vicki?”_

_“If you look just over my shoulder, you should be able to make her out.”_

_“Is that Mrs. Wayne?” The anchor asks in surprise._

 

At that they all swarmed behind him, trying to get a view of the screen. Sure enough, the woman that they called mother/wife was there.  She was talking to some of the other participants with a large smile on her face.

 

_“I’m going to see if she’ll talk to us, Mark.”_

Vicki walks up to the unsuspecting woman. It’s not until the camera is nearly shoved into her face does she notice her audience. She has a slightly surprised look on her face, but she quickly regains her composure and the lovely smile that they were all familiar with spreads across her face.

 

_“Mrs. Wayne! How are you? We weren’t expecting you to be here today.”_

_“I’m fine,” she starts with a smile. “I just wanted to come out and support everyone today. This walk means a lot to me.”_

_“Oh, really? Is it personal?” Vicki says, genuinely interested._

_“Yes, I lost my mother a little while back.”_

_“Really?” Vicki says in surprise._

_“Yes, before I came to Gotham. She had early onset Alzheimer’s. We really didn’t know how to take care of her, and there were times we felt hopeless. I don’t want other people to have feel like that, so I came out here to walk with everyone.”_

_“I’m sorry for your loss, Mrs. Wayne and this is a great thing that you’re doing. Will your family be joining you today?”_

They saw it, for a moment, her face fall in visual disappointment. And everyone felt horrible, felt their hearts clutch in guilt.

 

_“Unfortunately, they had prior engagements today. So, it’s just me.”_

_“You must be disappointed,” Vicki says with a frown._

_“Of course not,” she says with a smile. “Sometimes our schedules just don’t match up.”_

_A woman calls out to the participants in the background, catching her attention._

_“Seems like I’m needed. Nice to see you again, Vicki.”_

_She gives Vale and the camera a wave and begins walking away._

Tim pauses the video, leaving the frame stuck on Viki’s face as silence fills the room. The guilt in the atmosphere was palpable.

 

Perhaps none of them felt guiltier than Bruce. He had known about her mother and the trouble she and her family had. She had cried to him about it on the anniversary of her death not a few months ago. How could he have let her go do this alone?

 

“We really are just giant assholes, huh?” Jason said and everyone felt slightly surprised at his words, but no one disagreed.

 

Dick ran a frustrated hand through his hair, “We literally just complained about how we didn’t like the color purple.”

 

They sit their silently until the butler makes his presence known.

 

He clears his throat and they all look at him. “I took the liberty of pressing these shirts for all or you, sir. I assumed you’d be joining the mistress when you all awoke.”

 

A deft silence falls over the room before Bruce makes the first move. He grabs on of the shirt sitting on the top of the pile.

 

“Thank you, Alfred,” He says taking the shirt and slipping it on over his head. He looks back to his boys, “Hurry up, we don’t want to keep her waiting too long.”

 

Damien is next, silently taking the shirt from the slightly smug butler. The rest of the boys follow suit and then are out the door quickly behind their father.

 

A small smile plays at Alfred’s lips as he pulls out a cell phone typing in a quick message.

 

***

It felt strange to have so many eyes on you when you were alone. You probably shouldn’t have stopped to talk to Vicki, that definitely drew more attention on you than you wanted. Usually people didn’t recognize you if you weren’t all dressed up, and Bruce could deflect from the attention with just a smile.

 

A vibration runs up your thigh snapping you out your thoughts. Pulling your phone out of your pocket, a text flashes over the screen.

 

‘ _Incoming_ ’- Alfred.

 

You’re confused at first and then as your mind turns over the phrase you can’t help the smile that comes over your face.

 

_‘Thank you, Al’_

You fall out of step with the group around you and head to the nearest rest station and lean up against the tree. There’s no need to text them, they’ll find you, and plus you don’t want to ruin the surprise.

 

Ten minutes passes and while you’re waiting and you start to get a little sleepy. Eyes close and you almost begin to dose off until a hand touches your arm lightly.

 

Your eyes snap open in surprise only to relax the concerned look of a young woman in front of you.

 

“Are you all right, Mrs. Wayne?”

 

The fact that everyone knows your name always takes a moment for you to get used to and causes you to hesitate for a moment before you respond with a gracious smile, “I’m fine I just needed a break.”

 

She nods, tight chocolate curls bouncing with the movement of your head, “I know what you mean. Sometimes I-”

 

She stops mid-sentence full lips pulling into a surprised ‘O’ shape. Her brown eyes flash over at you and then back in the direction behind you.

 

Small arms come to wrap around your waist and a head buries itself into your abdomen. You can’t help the loving smile that spreads across your face. You look down into the green eyes of your son. He opens his mouth to say something but he’s seemingly remembers something. He turns his head and narrows his eyes at the woman.

 

“Leave,” he says sharply. Quickly your hand finds it way over his mouth.

“You’ll have to forgive him,” a deep voice starts, “He’s missed his mother, so he’s being a little selfish.”

 

A kiss plants itself on the side of your forehead and warmth runs over you as an arm wraps itself around your shoulders.

 

“O-Of course, Mr. Wayne.” The girl says with wide eyes. She backs away before turning around and working her way back to her own group of friends.

 

“You know she’s going to tell everyone she saw you, right?” You hum turning to look at your husband.

 

“Nothing we can’t handle, right?” He says with a shrug and small smirk.

 

“I suppose.”

 

“Are you guys done making goo-goo eyes at each other, we’re going to fall behind the crowd,” an irritated voice calls from the other side of you.

 

Confusion works its way over you face as you realize that everyone has come. Your older boys give you a smile and wave, or in Jason’s case a roll of his eyes and a smirk.

 

“What are you guys doing here? I thought you didn’t want to come.”

 

“We, didn’t know how much this meant to you, mom. So, we wanted to be here to do something for you. The way you always help us when we have problems,” Dick says with a sweet smile.

 

Your heart melts at his words, “But how did you guys find out?”

 

“We saw you talking to, Vicki. We felt like jerks when we found out about your mom, mom.” Tim says with a slight shrug. “Alfred also helped a little, with the guilt trip.”

 

“I’ll have to thank him when we get home then.”

 

“You should have told us,” Damian says with a little bite in his tone. He pulls away from your waist to glare up at you, “If I had known, I certainly would have made sure that everyone was present, purple or not.”

 

“It’s not a mother’s job to lay her burdens on her children,” you say ruffling his hair smiling as his sharp eyes relaxing at your words and touch. “It means a lot to me that you came, though.”

 

“Of course,” he says with a haughty nod of his head. “I would never abandon you.”

 

“Hey, don’t be such a suck up, brat.” Jason interrupts. “We all showed up.”

 

“Yes, well it matters more that I’m here because I’m her favorite,” Damian says with a smirk.

 

“You don’t know that!” Tim suddenly snaps, cool demeanor breaking.

 

“What, you don’t actually believe her when she says we’re all her favorite, do you? How much of a child can you be?” The smirk on young boy’s face irritates his elder brothers.

 

“Listen, brat-” Jason starts but Dick interjects placing his hands on both Tim and Jason’s shoulders.

 

“I think we all know who’s her favorite.”

 

The others open their mouths to retort but when Dick nods his head in a direction and the rest of the boys turn to look, they all let out a sigh.

 

Hands entwined you and Bruce are already walking back down the trail catching up to the rest of the group. He whispers something to you and you let out a laugh that makes you sound like a school girl.

 

“We always lose to him,” Tim says slightly irritated.

 

The other boys grunt in agreement.

 

Damian is the first to make his way toward you, his pace in a light jog, “At least we all know I’m her second favorite.”

 

“Not likely, brat,” Jason calls chasing after him.

 

Tim and Dick and follow after the pair quickly.

 

You look back to see your boys catching up to you smile. You were lucky to have such sweet boys.

 

 


End file.
